Jira MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Jira API integration. This server enables AI assistants like Claude to interact with Jira Cloud instances for issue management, search, comments, workflow transitions, and attachment handling.

Features

• Issue Management: Get, create, update, and assign Jira issues with custom field support
• JQL Search: Search issues using Jira Query Language
• Comments: Add and retrieve comments on issues
• Workflow: Get available transitions and change issue status
• Metadata Discovery: Get field requirements and allowed values for projects
• User Search: Find users by email or name for assignments
• Projects: List all accessible projects
• Attachments: List, upload, delete attachments and retrieve their content — text files returned as text, images rendered inline via Claude vision
• Issue Links: Add, remove, and list relationships between issues (relates, blocks, duplicates) without touching the constrained parent hierarchy field
• Token Efficient: 6 compound tools instead of 17+ flat tools — ~50% fewer tokens per session

Installation

Using npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @nexus2520/jira-mcp-server

From Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/pdogra1299/jira-mcp-server.git
   cd jira-mcp-server

2. Install dependencies:

   pnpm install

3. Build the project:

   pnpm run build

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 16.0.0
• A Jira Cloud account with API access
• Jira API token (generate from Atlassian Account Settings)

Configuration

Environment Variables

• JIRA_EMAIL: Your Atlassian account email
• JIRA_API_TOKEN: Your Jira API token
• JIRA_BASE_URL: Your Jira instance URL (e.g., https://yourcompany.atlassian.net)

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your Claude Desktop MCP settings file:

Location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Configuration (if installed via npm):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@nexus2520/jira-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here",
        "JIRA_BASE_URL": "https://yourcompany.atlassian.net"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration (if built from source):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/jira-mcp-server/build/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here",
        "JIRA_BASE_URL": "https://yourcompany.atlassian.net"
      }
    }
  }
}

Getting Your Jira API Token

1. Go to Atlassian Account Settings
2. Click "Create API token"
3. Give it a label (e.g., "Claude MCP")
4. Copy the generated token
5. Use it in your configuration

Tool Architecture

This server exposes 6 compound tools — each with an action parameter that selects the operation. This design reduces the token overhead of tool definitions by ~50% compared to 17+ flat tools, leaving more context for actual work.

| Tool | Actions | Description | |------|---------|-------------| | jira_issues | get create update assign | Full issue lifecycle management | | jira_search | issues projects users create_metadata | Search and discovery | | jira_comments | get add | Read and write comments | | jira_workflow | get_transitions transition | Status transitions | | jira_attachments | list get_content upload delete | File attachments | | jira_links | list add remove get_link_types | Issue link relationships |

Available Tools

jira_issues

Manage the full lifecycle of Jira issues.

Required: action

| Action | Description | Required params | Optional params | |--------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------| | get | Fetch full issue details | issueKey | — | | create | Create a new issue | projectKey, summary, issueType | description, priority, assignee, labels, customFields | | update | Edit fields on an existing issue | issueKey | summary, description, priority, assignee, labels, customFields | | assign | Set or clear the assignee | issueKey, assignee | — |

Tips:

• Always call jira_search with action=create_metadata before creating issues to discover required custom fields and allowed values.
• Pass assignee: "-1" to unassign an issue.
• description accepts plain text or an Atlassian Document Format (ADF) object.
• customFields is a key-value map: {"customfield_10000": "value"}.

Examples:

Get details for PROJ-123
Create a Bug in project PROJ with summary "Login button broken"
Update PROJ-123 priority to High
Assign PROJ-123 to [email protected]

jira_search

Search and discover Jira resources.

Required: action

| Action | Description | Required params | Optional params | |--------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------| | issues | Search issues via JQL | jql | maxResults, fields | | projects | List all accessible projects | — | maxResults | | users | Find users by name or email | query | maxResults | | create_metadata | Get field requirements for creating issues | projectKey | issueType |

Common JQL examples:

project = PROJ AND status = Open
assignee = currentUser() AND status != Done
priority = High AND created >= -7d

Tips:

• Use create_metadata before jira_issues create to understand what fields are required for a project/issue type.
• Use users to look up account IDs for assignments — pass the returned account ID or email to jira_issues assign.
• fields (for issues) controls which JIRA fields are fetched per result — e.g. ["summary","status","priority","duedate","assignee"]. Defaults to ["summary"].

Structured output: the issues action and jira_issues get return a structuredContent JSON payload alongside the markdown, so programmatic consumers can read fields directly without parsing markdown. For issues it is { jql, count, isLast, nextPageToken, issues: [{ key, id, self, fields }] }.

jira_comments

Read and write comments on a Jira issue.

Required: action, issueKey

| Action | Description | Required params | |--------|-------------|-----------------| | get | Fetch all comments on an issue | — | | add | Post a new comment | comment |

comment accepts plain text or an ADF object.

Examples:

Get all comments on PROJ-123
Add a comment to PROJ-123: "Fixed in PR #456"

jira_workflow

Manage issue status transitions.

Required: action, issueKey

| Action | Description | Required params | Optional params | |--------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------| | get_transitions | List available status transitions | — | — | | transition | Move issue to a new status | transitionId | comment |

Tip: Always call get_transitions first — transition IDs vary per project and issue type. The transitionId from the response is what you pass to transition.

Examples:

Get available transitions for PROJ-123
Move PROJ-123 to "In Progress" (use get_transitions first to find the ID)

jira_attachments

Manage file attachments on Jira issues.

Required: action

| Action | Description | Required params | Optional params | |--------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------| | list | List all attachments with metadata | issueKey | — | | get_content | Download and return file content | attachmentId | mimeType | | upload | Attach a local file to an issue | issueKey, filePath | fileName | | delete | Remove an attachment by ID | attachmentId | — |

Content types returned by get_content:

• Text files (text/*, application/json, application/xml): returned as readable text
• Images (image/*): returned as base64 — Claude will render them inline
• Other types (PDF, zip, etc.): returns file metadata with a descriptive message

Tips:

• Use list first to get attachment IDs before calling get_content or delete.
• fileName in upload overrides the filename shown in Jira (defaults to the file's basename).

Examples:

List attachments on PROJ-123
Get the content of attachment 136904
Upload /tmp/report.pdf to PROJ-123
Delete attachment 136904

jira_links

Manage relationships between issues independently of Jira's project hierarchy config — useful when you need to associate a Bug with a Story but the project doesn't allow Bug → Story as a parent-child relationship.

Required: action

| Action | Description | Required params | Optional params | |--------|-------------|-----------------|-----------------| | get_link_types | List available link type names for this Jira instance | — | — | | add | Create a link between two issues | issueKey, linkedIssueKey, linkType | direction | | list | List all links on an issue, with link IDs | issueKey | — | | remove | Delete a link by ID | linkId | — |

Link direction:

• Symmetric types (Relates, Duplicate): direction doesn't matter.
• Directional types (Blocks, Cloners, Causes): direction: outward means issueKey is the outward side (e.g. issueKey blocks linkedIssueKey); direction: inward means issueKey is the inward side (e.g. issueKey is blocked by linkedIssueKey). Defaults to outward.

Tips:

• Run get_link_types first — link type names vary per Jira instance config.
• Use list to find a linkId before calling remove.

Examples:

List the link types available in Jira
Link PROJ-1 to PROJ-2 as Relates
Mark PROJ-1 as blocking PROJ-2
List all links on PROJ-1
Remove link 10042

API Reference

This server uses the Jira REST API v3.

Troubleshooting

"Error: JIRA_EMAIL and JIRA_API_TOKEN are required"

Make sure you've set the environment variables in your MCP configuration.

Authentication errors

• Verify your API token is correct
• Ensure your email matches your Atlassian account
• Check that your JIRA_BASE_URL doesn't have a trailing slash

Permission errors

The API token uses the permissions of the user who created it. Make sure your account has the necessary permissions for the actions you're trying to perform.

License

MIT

Author

Parth Dogra

Contributing

Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests for improvements!